Patch 4.Onwards: Hunter Raiding with New Pet Buffs and Debuffs

Patch 4.0.1 has certainly redefined the way us Hunters choose our pets these days, specifically in raid instances where abilities and skill can make or break the success of the group. It's no wonder why more and more are starting to become REAL hunters by actually hunting for various types of animals instead of sticking to just 2 or 4.

Remember before the patch, during the era or 3.3.0-3.3.4? Where ALL (I’m not exaggerating) hunters in raid groups use one pet, and one pet only, a wolf. Well we can’t blame ourselves because it is the best pet to have around if you want a chance of topping the DPS charts. Who could resist the wolf buff that can increase your attack power by 10% stacked with another 10% attack power increase from Ferocity pet buffs? There’s even a joke going around that wolves are the only animals existing in the icy lands of Northrend, and that’s not good.

But gone now are the days where we will only see the wolves as the only pets in raids. The Pre-Patch before World of Warcraft:Cataclysm did an overhaul on our pet abilities and buffs. The diversity of buffs each type of pet can contribute has allowed us hard hitting RDPS to become more active in choosing our pets.

Here is the list of pets that give essential buffs along with their counterparts from different classes. Remember though that some of these buffs are a little weaker compared to the buffs that come from class players. The whole point of the buff overhaul for pets is to allow us to contribute beyond the given Trueshot Aura, Ferocious Inspiration and Hunting Party buffs. If there’s the case where a vital buff is missing from the raid, our pets can compensate for that loss.

Eversince the Cataclysm pre-patch came to our hard drives, we’ve been seeing more hunters use different pets in raids other than the usual Northrend wolf, though we cannot escape the fact that we Hunters hunger for a pet that gives DPS which can catapult us to the top of the charts. No other type of pet can give us more DPS than Ferocity Pets, thanks to Call of the Wild, a 10 second buff which gives 10% attack power.

To the other classes, please do not be surprised if we still bring in wolves, cats, raptors or devilsaurs, because like any other DPSers, we want to one-up other classes in DPS as much as possible. You can always make a request if you want a buff or debuff that’s missing from the raid, but don’t take it too personal if we prefer the pets mentioned above.

Here's a flowchart of which pet to bring depending on the classes available in a raid. Many thanks to Zee of of WOW-Petopia for the amazing idea.

Remember, a true hunter travels to the vast corners of the planet to capture different types of animals for their use. So go ahead and catch 'em all!